A Time of Change
by Lady Facade
Summary: Harry is accidently transported back to 1942 where a young Tom Riddle just happens to be attending Hogwarts. He will just have to keep a low profile until he can find a way back to the future. Right?
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Harry Potter. All characters belong to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., Bloomsbury, and Scholastic, respectively. Copyright infringement is not intended and I make no money from posting this story._

Harry didn't quite know what to make of the summer after his fourth year. He had spent most of it at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, which also happened to be the ancestral home of his godfather, Sirius Black.

Anger and frustration had turned his mind into a chaotic mess of emotions. His time at Privet Drive this summer had given him a lot of time to think about things, especially the return of one Tom Riddle, also known as the Dark Lord Voldemort.

The megalomaniac kept targeting him, surely he wasn't the only enemy that Voldemort had that met the requirements for his stupid dark ritual. Yet no matter how many times he came across Voldemort and lived to tell the tale, everyone just expected him to be able to escape. No one offered any explanation as to why it was always him.

He hadn't seen much of Sirius since he came to Grimmauld Place a month ago, but Harry had to admit to himself that it was a little bit of a relief. Sirius had been acting a little strange around him recently, which was probably just because of his stay in Azkaban for 13 years but after living with his Uncle Vernon all these years he had learned to watch out for that kind of behaviour.

He stepped to the side as Mrs. Weasley came down the long narrow hallway. The paint was peeling off the walls, but they were lined with portraits of old family members going back hundreds of years which gave it a little charm, he supposed. Even if all most of them did was spit insults at people who walked past. He had to clamp his mouth shut on more than one occasion when he had nearly burst out laughing at some of the more raunchy comments directed at people.

"Are you all packed and ready to go dear?" Molly Weasley asked, bringing armfuls of god only knew what from out of the twins bedroom while they followed behind, heads down and looking as though they were on their way to the gallows.

Harry knew them well enough now to know that they were just waiting for their mother's back to be turned so they could recover their precious belongings. He smiled at the twins and just nodded politely as she struggled past, not that she had noticed his response.

He bit his lip to keep from saying, if she wasn't bothered in the answer, why ask the question in the first place. He just shook his head, grabbed his trunk from his room, and made his way downstairs through. Hedwig had flown on ahead to Hogwarts as she didn't like all of the loud noises and chaos of Grimmauld Place, with so many people coming and going.

He relaxed on the train to school, just enjoying catching up with his friends in their compartment, playing a few games of exploding snap which he won and a couple of games of chess which he lost.

The students all filed into the carriages when the train arrived at Hogsmeade station, the platform was bustling with students in their school robes with the occasional one wearing a wizards hat. Harry was just about to close the door to the carriage that he shared with Ron and Hermione, when he noticed a girl with long, pale blonde hair looking at him with slightly glazed sky blue eyes.

"May I join your carriage?" Her voice sounded like she was in her own little world, and he noticed a few Ravenclaw girls behind her. They were pointing and laughing at her back while shouting insults at her. It reminded him strongly of his days in primary school when Dudley had scared off a couple of kids who just might have befriended him. Everyone spent the next school year following Dudley's example of insults and taunts.

He opened the door to the carriage a little more so that she could climb inside. "I'm Harry," he offered in greeting.

"I know who you are," she smiled slightly at his discomfort at not being able to introduce himself properly as everyone already knew who he was. "I'm Luna Lovegood, fourth year Ravenclaw."

Hermione was looking at the girl curiously, "Are those radish earrings?" Harry thought it was a little rude of Hermione not to introduce herself and instead get straight into questioning here jewellery but kept his mouth shut.

He sighed, wondering why the smallest things seemed to bother him these days. It didn't really make sense, as things like that about his best friends had never bothered him before.

"Why yes, they keep the Nargles from nesting in my head and breeding," Luna replied happily.

Hermione let out a snort at Luna's response and eyed the girl before responding. "I've never heard of any such creature."

"It is not our place to know everything. Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring," Luna replied before looking dreamily out of the window essentially cutting of anymore conversation with the muggleborn. Hermione sniffed in disdain but didn't reply. Instead, she dismissed everyone else in the carriage and buried her nose in the large tome she had been reading. Ron was absorbed in his Quidditch Weekly magazine and had completely missed the byplay between Luna and Hermione, though Harry was sure he would hear all about it later.

Harry tried not to stare at Luna, but it was as though there was an aura around her that kept drawing his eyes back to her every time he moved them away.

After that, the ten minute journey up to the school was quiet and relatively uneventful. The carriages all pulled up outside the doors that in fifteen minutes would be full of new first year students ready and waiting to be sorted into their homes for the next seven years.

"Harry," he turned his attention back to Luna as she gazed at him speculatively with her almost hypnotizing blue eyes. "About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all. Find out who you are and do it for yourself." Everyone in the carriage had turned to look at her with these words and they just watched silently as she left the carriage and got swept away by the sea of students moving into the school.

"Wow, no wonder they call her loony," Ron gaped after her.

They all looked at each other and burst out into laughter as they too scrambled out of carriage and started to make their way into the great hall, however, if they had looked closely at their friend they may have noticed that the laughter didn't quite reach his eyes.

Just as they were approaching the doors to the great hall, they came across Malfoy talking to Crabbe and Goyle. Naturally, Ron couldn't wait to start the year off with a jab at the heir to the Malfoy fortune. "Giving out orders already Malfoy? You should invest in a couple of dogs for bodyguards, they might be able to listen better."

"Weasel, did you finally find enough knuts on the floor to be able to scrape enough together for new robes?" Malfoy looked him up and down, "I guess that's a no by the looks of it. Oh look at that, it's Saint Potter and his mudblood."

"You watch your mouth Malfoy," Harry said, drawing his wand and other students around them did the same.

"What's up Potter, does the truth hurt? You seem to like spending time in the filth, after all, that's what you get for having a blood traitor for a father and a mudblood for a mother."

Harry's rage flared and the control he had on his magic disappeared. Everyone stepped back as they felt his magic crackling in the air around them and licking at their skin. Malfoy looked at Potter with a little fear in his eyes that was quickly masked by schooling his features into a sneer.

"Better than being death eater scum!" Harry announced to everyone, causing Malfoy to turn red and fling a bombarda in his direction.

"Confringo!" Harry shouted in retaliation, not bothering to do the wand movement but just pushing the spell out with raw power.

The next thing that happened was something none of them could have expected. The blasting spells met in mid-air, causing an explosion that threw everyone back at least 10 feet down the hallway. The doors to the hall opened as the teachers came through just in time to see the smoke clear. Snape had forgone the usual sneer this time, and instead looked furious when he saw the destroyed walls of the corridor.

"What happened here Mr. Malfoy?" He said in a tight voice.

"Potter cursed me sir, and I was trying to defend myself when-"

" -that's a lie you rotten snake."

"That's enough Weasley, ten points from Gryffindor for speaking unnecessarily. Where is Mr. Potter?" He asked silkily, his eyes glittering with dark menace.

Everyone looked at the spot where he had been standing not thirty seconds earlier only to see his outer robes on the floor in a pile.

Nobody noticed the look of dawning realisation on Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's face, quickly morphing into one of fear.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Harry landed hard on the cold stone floor and groaned as his back made contact, jarring his whole body. He brushed himself off and, feeling dizzy, stood up only to realize that he was in the great hall instead of the entrance hall. He spun around, looking at the dated decorations on the walls.

'What the hell happened to me this time?' he wondered as he noticed the whole student body and table of professors were staring at him with their mouths open.

Dumbledore sat in the deputy headmasters seat, there was no Snape, and one of the old head teachers he remembered from Dumbledore's office portraits was sitting in the Headmaster's seat at the staff table. Swaying slightly as the dizziness took on new heights, he turned away, not wanting to look anymore.

'Could things even get any worse?'

He looked up again only to come face to face with a fifteen year old Tom Riddle.

'You have got to be kidding me,' he looked up to the ceiling in exasperation before his eyes closed and he collapsed in a heap on the floor, an inky blackness invading his mind.

He opened his eyes sometime later to see he was in a familiar place. He noted idly that he wasn't in the bed that Madam Pomfrey had designated as his, she had conjured a plaque with his name on it after the third task last year. It held little amusement for him but everyone else seemed to find it funny.

Dumbledore and who he thought might have been the headmaster stood at the foot of his bed whispering. Why they bothered to whisper was beyond him. He could hear every word they said about him and he coughed politely to get their attention.

"Ah, I see you are awake lad," Dippet said in a kind voice, it. It wasn't as condescending as Dumbledore's usually was, which was nice, and gave it a genuine feel to it.

"Yes sir." Harry mumbled still beyond confused.

"Do you have any idea how you came to end up in Hogwarts, my boy? I'm afraid I don't recognise you." Dumbledore took his turn to speak, though his voice was filled with suspicion, obviously something he did not have in common with the Headmaster judging by the disapproving frown he was given at his words.

"I was just about to start my fifth year here sir, I don't know what happened. There was a fight in the corridor that ended up in an explosion which threw everyone backwards. When I landed and looked around, I was in the great hall instead of the entrance corridor. My name is Harry Potter sir."

Nothing. There had been absolutely no reaction to his name. There was obviously something really wrong here. Maybe he had ended up in a pensieve memory again?

"Is anything else different Harry?" Dippet kept his voice gentle seeing that Harry was starting to panic as everything that had happened started to sink in.

"With all due respect sir, you aren't the Headmaster where I'm from." Avada kedavra coloured eyes sent a quick look in Dumbledore's direction and they both jumped to the same conclusion.

"What is the date Harry," Dippet asked kindly.

"September 1st, 1999 sir." This line of questioning wasn't clearing anything up for Harry but the two professors seemed to have realise the problem.

"It is September 1st, 1942, Harry. It appears you are a time traveler, rare but not unheard of. I'm afraid we may just have to see this one out my boy, not much is known about time travelling. When these things have happened in the past, the people have been sent back to where they came from after a time. Things have been righted by magic naturally, if you see what I mean." Dippet continued.

Harry felt a deep sinking feeling in his chest when he realised that the Headmaster was essentially telling him that there was no direct way to get him back to his own time. He would have to sit and wait until magic deemed fit to return him back to his own time.

"Don't be disheartened Mr. Potter, there are no known cases of permanent time travel. There seems to be something that magic can do to correct itself." Harry looked at Dippet with hope in his eyes that it would righted sooner rather than later.

"I know of a few places where you may stay until this is all fixed Mr. Potter." Albus smiled kindly at him, yet Harry noticed there didn't seem to be any real warmth to his words. He was sure his jaw had dropped slightly. The headmaster was kicking him out. His first real home and the person who had brought him here was telling him that he might have to stay somewhere else.

"Nonsense Albus, Mr. Potter will be staying here so that he can at least have some semblance of a normal life. I think if we tell the students you are a transfer student and that you have just lost your parents in the war. They will understand and shouldn't ask too many questions. You will also be able to continue your education." Glad for once that Dumbledore wasn't headmaster, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

Albus looked very put out at this suggestion but seemed to accept it as there was nothing he could do against Dippet's decision. He would just have to keep a close eye on Mr. Potter, after all, what was it that muggle war strategist had said, ah yes, 'keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'. There was something going on here that just screamed danger and he would find out what it was, no matter what.

Dippet called one of the house elves to bring him the sorting hat from his office. The sorting had been completed while Harry was unconscious and the students were now just enjoying their first meal back at Hogwarts.

Before Harry could protest, the house elf was back and the hat was on his head rummaging through his mind.

'_Hmmm welcome back Mr. Potter.'_

'_Wait you remember me?'_

'_I am not bound by something as simple as time.'_

_Harry snorted at this and agitatedly asked the hat what he was bound by then._

'_Why Hogwarts of course!'_

'_Hogwarts is not bound by time either? Can it send me back?'_

'_No, Mr. Potter, she__cannot send you back, however that does not mean to say she cannot aid. You must first achieve what you were brought here for however, and that is a task you must figure out yourself, before you ask. Now as for the reason I am here, I do believe you escaped me once, however this time I will have my way,'_

'_Wai-'_

"SLYTHERIN!"

"A very noble house Mr. Potter, I am sure you will be an asset to Slytherin. There may be an issue with using your last name though. The Potters are a relatively small, but Ancient and Noble Pureblood house, and as such, will be quick to point out someone claiming to be of their heritage. I suggest you think of a different last name for the duration of your stay here with us. This is our head boy, Mr. Zabini, who will escort you down to the common room where you can settle in." The dark haired Mediterranean looking boy walked in just in time for Headmaster Dippet to give his escort request.

"This way then Mr..?," Zabini said, distinctly put out that he was being reduced to a tour guide when he had wanted to talk to the Headmaster about something else.

"Evans," Harry replied after a second. He couldn't use his father's name so he might as well use his mother's and keep it simple. However, he hadn't properly thought through the consequences of using a muggle surname when he had just been sorted into the house of pureblood supremacists. He could see from the twitch of Zabini's lips and the sneer that tried to take over his face that this may have other consequences. Oh well, he couldn't change his mind now, that would make things even worse... if that was even possible, he chuckled to himself.

Harry thanked both of the professors before making his way down to the Slytherin dungeons. Conversation was limited with Zabini apart from telling him the cover story of being an orphan and his parents dying when asked.

He was in the house of the snakes, and knew that nobody had real friends in Slytherin, just acquaintances that could be used for future value. If he wanted to survive this, he was going to have to be more aware of his surroundings. If he kept a low profile and made himself seem as unimportant as possible he might just make it. He would get back to the future, all he had to do was hang on.

The head boy snapped him out of his thoughts as he gave Harry the password and followed him into the common room. The sound of the portrait slamming into place behind them as they passed through sounded somewhat like he imagined a prison door to sound like.

Harry had experienced enough adventure for one day and went to find the dorm that he had been assigned, conveniently ignoring the group of Slytherins who sat in prime place in the common room by the fire. Who else aswas the centre of attention but none other than Tom Riddle. Typical.

The Slytherin dorms were quite different tothan the Gryffindor ones he was used to. They had windows that were charmed to show the view under the lake. and there were five people to a room. Those weren't the differences that shocked him though, it was the décor of the room that shockedsurprised him the most.

The Gryffindor dormitories were decked out in bright colours with red and gold everywhere, from the carpets and curtains to the tapestries on the stone walls. He had always wondered why they let such a fanatic decorate, but the Slytherin rooms were quite the opposite.

There were tasteful tapestries on the walls in soothing colours to coordinate with the mahogany bed frames and dressing tables, one in each corner of the room. The only bits of green and silver in the room were on the bed hangings surrounding each bed. It was elegant and for some strange reason he didn't care to research, there was a sense of comfort surrounding him as he got into bed to think about his situation some more. Of course, the feeling didn'tdidn't stop him from casting his usual silencing and security charms to make sure no one would bother him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

It was really strange how different two houses in the same school could actually be. Maybe it was because he was fifty years in the past, but he doubted it. He had spent a week in the house of snakes now, and although he loved Gryffindor and all of his house mates, there was just something about being in Slytherin that he found freeing. He didn't have to pretend to be okay fifteen times a day because Hermione was playing at being his mother, he managed to get all of his homework done in plenty of time without being badgered by Ron to do something else, and the common room was quiet enough to study in. No Weasley pranks or noisy games of exploding snap.

No one bothered him in the common room; he was allowed to just be alone and have some time to breathe. But that was a big thing too wasn't it? There was no insane Dark Lord breathing down his neck and waiting to kill him at every turn. In the span of fifteen years, this week had been the only time he hadn't had to deal with either the Dursleys or Voldemort. Well, there was a sociopath in the same room as him, but Riddle had nothing to do with Harry and hadn't so much as glanced in his direction after the initial once over when he first walked into the common room.

Harry had been very careful to avoid being noticed by anyone and in return nobody had bothered him. It was eerily similar to living with the Dursleys and that might explain why he managed it so well. There were a lot of unwritten rules in Slytherin that he was able to see very quickly. Who would have thought all those years of living in fear of his so-called relatives would come in handy.

There was one person that seemed to be in the seat of power in Slytherin, and all of the other students were either trying to subtly out manoeuver the leader or gain power through being a follower. It was Draco Malfoy in his Hogwarts and in this time it was, of course, none other than Tom Riddle. But then again, he really didn't expect anything else from the young dark lord.

It was on the Friday night at the end of his first week at Hogwarts in 1942 that he found himself watching how everyone acted around the young Dark Lord. The first through third years steered clear of him, and when they did end up in his path quickly apologised and moved on. The fourth to fifth years all bowed at his feet, practically salivating for scraps of attention every time he even remotely looked in the their direction. It was really rather pathetic, he thought to himself. The sixth and seventh years were clearly split, some of them were similar to the fifth year students, whereas others looked at Tom with disdain clearly written all over their features, most likely from jealousy that he was more powerful than them. Though it was never on their faces when Riddle was around, he seemed to see everything no matter how small.

Harry had managed to slip into the cracks by having average grades and making himself scarce. As far as anyone in Slytherin was concerned, he had nothing to offer and therefore any friendship would be of no benefit to them. After the graveyard incident at the end of his fourth year, he had spent every moment he could at the Dursley's reading and researching anything and everything he could get his hands on. That turned out to be more than expected when he had the bright idea to call for Dobby's assistance one day. The little elf was more than eager to help him in anything he desired.

He had heard nothing from Ron or Hermione all summer; they preferred to listen to interfering Dumbledore over him and had left him to deal with the trauma of his fourth year alone. During the first week back at the Dursley's, he would have given anything for just one person to show that they cared even a little bit, yet they didn't. Anger burned inside him as he thought about how alone they had let him feel when they were supposed to care for him, and he had to stop himself quickly as he felt his magic beginning to react.

Nothing had changed when he arrived at Grimmauld place. Even though he had faced Voldemort twice, well three times if you count the diary, they still didn't find him adult enough to join the Order.

Dumbledore claiming that he wanted Harry to enjoy the rest of his childhood was just hippogriff dung as far as he was concerned. He was the one to place Harry with the Dursleys in the first place, that alone ensured that he would never have a decent childhood. Being forced to cook and clean from the time he was able to reach the stove with the aid of a stool and calling a cupboard under the stairs a bedroom for ten years was not what he wanted to call home. He had long ago learned that he would never receive any love from the Dursleys, and although it still hurt, there was obviously nothing he could do about it either.

He wasn't stupid, and he had realised that Dumbledore wanted him to defeat Voldemort even though he didn't know why it should have to be him. When he had been avoiding Ron and Hermione at Grimmauld Place, he had been practicing every single one of the spells that he had learned while staying with the Dursleys.

Sirius, for all his strange behaviour, had showed him a particular room in the house that would suit his needs. It was designed specifically for combat training. Harry see could straight through Sirius' reasons and knew it was only to undermine Mrs. Weasley, as she had been ranting about his guardianship qualities. He didn't need Mrs. Weasley for that though, Harry could do it himself having not seen the man after that. Still, the training dummies in that room were vicious and you learnt very quickly to use whatever scenery the room had provided for you to your advantage. It had been excellent training for him.

Harry sighed and stretched his muscles while making his way to the dormitory, done with his evening reading and ready to go to bed. He had been unlucky enough to be placed in a dormitory with Riddle and three of his associates, but they had all stayed out of each other's way. The silent arrangement hadn't bothered Harry in the slightest and allowed him to fade into the background even more when people realised his roommates had nothing to with him. He didn't know their names, but it was clear one of them was a Malfoy and the other had a slight resemblance to Sirius.

Well one more day down, and Merlin knows how many more to go, he thought to himself. He felt the magic of two people enter the room after him and settle themselves in bed. Still, it was the weekend, so he would get to enjoy himself in the library. He flicked up silencing charms around his bed to prevent the other boys hearing the nightmares he was no doubt going to have in the night and placed his head down to sleep, his hand still clutching his wand under the pillow as his eyes closed.

Morning took far too long to come, as far as he was concerned, as the nightmares had woken him up again. He realised that he had run out of books to read the night before and it was still a little while until the library opened. He decided to go down to breakfast early while none of the other students were there and grab a couple of pieces of toast so he could stay in the library until lunchtime, maybe even mid-afternoon if he grabbed an apple as well.

Good luck was not on Harry's side today though as he came around the corner just a short way from the library where three of Riddle's minions were standing over a cowering third year Hufflepuff boy in a corner. He took in the scene before him and knew he should leave. Nothing good would come of him interfering, he knew, and he started to turn around so he could go a different way to the library.

Years later, Harry would realise that this was when everything changed, and that if he hadn't turned and looked in that boy's direction maybe things would have turned out differently. The Hufflepuff's shout caused the three death eaters, if they were even called that at this point, to turn so that they could see him while still keeping their victim within distance.

"Evans," the signature blonde hair of a Malfoy flowed down his back as Abraxas sneered out the name Harry had chosen for himself. Oh well, if Malfoy was going to be like that and he was going to do his saving people thing, he might as well do it properly.

"Malfoy," Harry regarded them through eyes that were taking in every little surrounding detail, the opposite of the submissive look that they had come to associate with him.

"Move along, this doesn't concern you," snapped the one from Malfoy's left holding the Hufflepuff at wand point. The insane glint in his eyes was similar to the one Bellatrix Lestrange had in the pictures he had seen of her that summer over in the Black Library at Grimmauld Place. Apparently she had been Sirius' cousin and Draco Malfoy's aunt.

"Is everything alright?" Harry asked the smaller boy who was still pressing himself against the wall watching the interaction between Harry and his attackers.

"He's fine, now leave," Malfoy growled at him, expecting him to just slope off like a coward and pretend he hadn't seen anything. From the look on his face, he honestly believed Harry was a nobody and would just leave. It had been his goal, he supposed, but to see it work so brilliantly surprised him. He was trying to cut back on the being nice to people thing as it only seemed to get them killed, but clearly it wasn't as easy as he had originally thought it would be. His feet just wouldn't move.

"I'm not sure he agrees with you," Harry spoke with a tone of ice, sighing inside as he dropped the façade of being weak. His eyes turned cold and his posture straightened to that of a confident, seasoned fighter.

Malfoy turned out to be the smarter of the bunch, as instead of his jaw dropping in shock at the change, his eyes narrowed in realisation of the fact that he had been played. This boy had clearly deceived him into believing that he was nobody and nothing special. Yet the magic surrounding the boy was clearly way above his level and closer to the level of Tom's.

Black, obviously bored with the subtle approach, moved his wand from the Hufflepuff to fire a disarming spell at Harry. All of a sudden things happened in very quick succession, and the Hufflepuff boy watched in shock as Harry performed a dance with the three Slytherins. Moving fluidly, hexes and curses flew between them as he took them down one by one, until there was just him and the other boy stood looking down at the three bodies on the floor. All unconscious and sporting different injuries from his various hexes and curses that hadn't been deflected.

"Well, as exciting as this was," he remarked dryly looking at the third year now watching him with guarded eyes, "I do have somewhere to be."

"But you just... who are you? You're like him aren't you?" The boy started to scramble away and looked just like he did when he was being cornered by Malfoy and his friends. Walking away, he couldn't believe he had blown his cover for someone who was now just as scared of him as the other Slytherins.

He left the corridor before anyone came across the scene and continued on his way to the library, never seeing the blue pair of eyes following his steps from the other end of the corridor.

Tom Riddle smiled to himself as he realised there was a new toy for him to play with. The boy had been right under his nose for a week and he had failed to notice. The boy, Evans his name was, had played the part of a true Slytherin to blend in so seamlessly, especially after the boy's spectacular entrance. Not many people intrigued Tom, and his usual toys were usually broken so easily. Hopefully this one would be more entertaining, as his fifth year had turned out to be incredibly boring so far. He turned and walked away, not bothering to wake his servants as he had taken to calling them. Instead he left them there to be found and humiliated as punishment for being beaten by an opponent they had underestimated. Tom's mind was running a mile a minute as he thought over every interaction he had seen involving his new plaything and made his way to the common room to think of games he would play with him.

This was going to be fun.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Halfway through October, the Hogwarts grounds were covered in a layer of brown leaves, and they crunched under Tom Riddle's feet as he made his way down to the lake one frosty morning.

He still couldn't believe he had missed it. Now that he paid attention he could see it of course, but for him to have missed it at all was unacceptable. The Evans boy was good, but nobody was better than him. For the boy to slide under his radar like that suggested there was more to this boy than anyone knew. Evans had power.

Evans had dueled his Slytherins spectacularly, and that was a feat in itself considering they had dueling practice in their meetings twice a week.

A smirk split Tom's face at the thought of dueling his new toy. The boy had displayed more power than any of his followers ever had and the young Dark Lord's mind whirled with the possibilities of having him as a follower. His curiosity was definitely peaked.

It had been a few weeks since the incident in the hallway. When Harry had left the corridor he had expected everything to have changed, and the school to be loud with whispers and stares as he walked to his classes. It wasn't. Neither Riddle, his followers, nor the boy he saved had said a word, even though the Slytherins had obviously told their leader what happened.

The Slytherins he could understand as it might have been pride, but the boy would have no reason not to say anything. Harry nearly sighed in frustration; nothing was working out how he expected it to.

The only thing that had changed, Harry was very aware of. He had already noticed that Riddle was a very keen observer of everyone and everything that was going on around him, and now it seemed the young dark lord was watching him.

Because nobody knew about the corridor situation, Harry had maintained his submissive mask for the rest of the student population. Riddle knew though, and Harry felt the weight of his stares through meal times and classes when others weren't paying attention. Not one word had been spoken between them, but Riddle was still evaluating him.

It showed in classes that Riddle was a genius, and if he had still been sane in Harry's own time they would have all been in trouble. Harry thanked Merlin that the insane dark lord was so obsessed with him, because the alternative would suggest a world already overrun by Death Eaters.

Harry walked down the corridor to his defense against the dark arts class when someone shoved past him, knocking him into the wall, hard.

"Stay out of my way, mudblood," the person snapped as they carried on walking down the hall. Harry had found out his name was Orion Black, the same Black that had a resemblance to Sirius, the same Black he shared a dormitory with, and the same Black he had dueled a few weeks ago. His magic flared in irritation at the insult and he struggled to get it back under control before anybody noticed so he could walk into class and take a seat.

The class watched the middle aged professor come to the front of the room to start her lecture on whatever the topic of the day was. Harry nearly groaned as the rest of the class came to attention when they saw that she had written the word 'Unforgivables' on the blackboard.

"Now, I assume we all know what they are, so if somebody would like to give me a brief explanation we will start with the Imperius curse." She picked a Hufflepuff girl that Harry hadn't caught the name of to explain.

"The incantation is 'imperio' and is used by wizards to control the actions of another. It has been classed as illegal by the ministry for centuries now and gifts the user with a life sentence in Azkaban." She explained clearly in a tone of voice that reminded him of Hermione. In fact, when he looked closer at the notes she had already written five minutes into the class, that wasn't where the similarities stopped.

"That is correct Miss Foster. Now what about the Cruciatus curse, anyone?"

The same girl immediately raised her hand but the professor merely looked for someone else until another hand was raised. When no one else was forth coming she picked on someone on the front tables.

"The Cruciatus curse causes pain," the unfortunate boy replied in a voice that suggested he didn't want to talk about it.

"That is correct. The curse is also deemed unforgivable by the British Ministry of Magic and will earn you another lifetime sentence in Azkaban. Would anybody like to comment on the last one?"

"Avada Kedavra. The unforgivable which may get you worse than Azkaban, the Dementor's kiss, a fate which I'm sure none of you would wish to experience. No shield can stop it and no one has ever been hit with it and survived."

Harry flinched at the mention of the curse, a fact which did not go unnoticed by Riddle, who sat at the back of the class. Harry felt the gaze of the dark lord and almost cringed when he raised his hand with a question, somehow just knowing that it was done to provoke another reaction from him.

"How does the killing curse work professor?" Riddle asked with a charming smile and Harry nearly choked when he saw a little red tint to the Professor's cheeks as she answered.

"Well Mr. Riddle, the killing curse works by stripping the soul of the victim away from the physical body. Without a body the soul cannot stay anchored to this world and as such moves on. It is tragically being used freely on the continent at the moment and is therefore even more strictly sentenced than usual. The Avada Kedavra curse is the only curse that gives off such a unique colour. The emerald green leaves the casters wand with a flash before moving towards the intended victim." The Professor smiled stupidly, or at least Harry thought so anyways, at Riddle the whole time she was talking.

Riddle, however, was watching how Harry acted while the professor was talking. The flinch as she described what happened when the curse hit someone and the look of contemplation on his face as he thought about what she had said.

It was easy for Riddle to deduce that someone close to Evans had been killed by the curse. In fact, he remembered Zabini saying something about him being orphaned.

The students had started to notice something. Half of them were confused and the other half were holding their breath. Riddle had targeted new toy and everyone cringed when they thought of the last one.

A seventh year Ravenclaw had caught his eye the year before and by the end of the year had become completely infatuated with Riddle. It had all finished at the end of the year feast when the Ravenclaw had managed to fail one of his N.E.W.T.'s and had told Riddle that it was his fault. None of the other students had ever seen such a sudden change in the Slytherin heir, but they did then. The whole school had watched as his cold words and calculated comments tore the Ravenclaw piece from piece, until he was sobbing his apologies at Riddle's feet in the Great Hall. The dark lord had watched him spout his apologies, not saying anything, before simply walking away.

It was a well-known fact that you did not tangle or get involved with the Slytherin heir unless you were a part of his group and therefore protected from his wrath in public. Most of the time anyways.

Everyone in the school could see that he had his eye on the new transfer student. Most of them were confused as to why he would be watching Evans, when he was no one spectacular and was only just passing his classes. He looked down when someone tried to catch his eye or spoke to him and only kept to himself. The smaller part of the student population were holding their breath because they remembered what happened to the last one and this boy clearly couldn't protect himself from the likes of Riddle.

Even the professors were unsure of what to do in this case. The boy was an orphan who had been required to use the Hogwarts children fund for his supplies. Dumbledore had heard through the grapevine that when he had been escorted to Diagon Alley for his supplies, Ollivander had told the boy that he was unable to supply him with an appropriate wand and that one would have to be made for by the wand maker in Knockturn Alley. This, of course, led to more speculation amongst everyone that he wasn't even capable of casting a normal amount of magic to use a standard wand.

There was something off about Harry Evans, and Dumbledore didn't like it. He had a bad feeling about the boy, especially since it looked like he was involved with Riddle.

Harry was the last one to leave the hall after dinner that evening as he had been studying while eating, and also trying to avoid the common room without making it look like he didn't want to be there.

"Evans."

Harry looked up at the sound of his name and his eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of who the smooth voice belonged to. Riddle had seen him drop his mask so there was no point in keeping up the masquerade, but it would no doubt irritate the other so he was going to try it anyway. He lowered his eyes and mumbled a greeting as he tried to move past the young dark lord.

"That's an unusual scar you have there." He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, unnatural violet eyes flicked up to Harry's forehead as he voiced his rhetorical question. Riddle was surprised to see the usually dull green eyes brighten to an Avada Kedavra green as they sent a glance his way full of anger.

"It's a curse scar," Harry replied stiffly wanting to just leave and get back to the common room.

"That's must have been a particularly nasty curse to cause a scar that big, and it doesn't look fresh. To not heal fully means it was reflected at the caster. They can't have been very happy with you," Riddle stated with a casualness which did not match his heavy gaze.

Harry smiled ruefully, "You could say that. How is it you know so much about curse scars?"

"How is it you know so little?" Riddle taunted.

"It's rude to answer a question with another question."

Riddle smirked, "It's also rude not to look at someone when they're talking, yet you have your gaze on the ground most of the time." As intended this caused the green eyed boy's gaze to snap to his as he continued, "or maybe you consider yourself inferior to everyone you converse with." Harry was almost positive that same sentence had come from Snape's mouth at some point.

Harry had known going into Slytherin that this would happen, and because people didn't believe him worthy of their time they simply left him alone to speak to cultivate other relationships that were more beneficial.

"You can drop the act, because I know it's not real." Riddle pushed off from the wall and walked slowly up to Harry until they were but a foot away. "Though I must say it intrigues me to find out why you have been hiding behind one since you started at the beginning of the year."

Harry could have cursed himself right then for bringing Riddle's curiosity upon himself. It obviously didn't matter what time period they were in, there was a connection between them that couldn't be denied.

"Are you that bored that you must concern yourself with someone as insignificant as me?" Harry asked smirking, knowing that the other didn't think him insignificant in the slightest.

"For someone who single-handedly dueled and defeated three of my friends, I don't think you're as insignificant as you like to encourage everyone to believe." He narrowed his eyes slightly at the fact that Riddle has seen what happened. It explained the sudden interest and it made more sense than just being told by his followers.

Harry knew he was playing with fire, but the confrontation was irritating him when he was trying not to be noticed. "Maybe they are the insignificant ones."

"They may be insignificant, but I could crush you like a bug." Riddle's cold tone matched the dangerous aura his magic gave off as it flared to life at the implied insult about his follower's ineptitude.

Harry's magic flared automatically in response to Riddle's, causing a triumphant smirk to grace his lips as he moved forward to whisper his parting comment menacingly into Harry's ear.

"Worry not, Saviour of the innocent," a sneer forming on his lips at the nickname, "you have my full attention now."

A squeak drew both of their attentions to a group of first years who had just come around the corner. A cold glare from Riddle sent them scurrying in the direction they had just come from, whispering and giggling to themselves.

Riddle smirked, "Goodnight Evans."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I know it has been a very long time since I updated this one but I have more time now and am back on track. I have the next few chapters already done and they are with my beta right now. I hope you enjoy this one so let me know if you like it

Chapter Five

Bang.

Harry slammed the door to the headmaster's office shut as he stormed out. It turned out that there was no definite way to get back to his time and even the brightest minds in the Ministry were at a loss as to how to send him back to the future. He was going to have to wait it out, and it wasn't until the meeting that he realised he hadn't given up on the idea that someone might be able to help him.

What was also concerning Harry apart from the fact that he had no way home, was the way Dumbledore had been watching his reactions to the news. His adventure into the past was not painting Dumbledore in a good light.

As soon as he had been placed in Slytherin, the only thing he had seen of the headmaster was a biased attitude towards the Gryffindor students in class and a severe dislike for Tom Riddle. To be honest, he didn't understand why Dumbledore wouldn't try to help Riddle instead of just giving him negative attention that would reinforce his behaviour.

Fingers had been pointing at him all morning, and they started again as he moved towards the Great Hall for lunch. He was used to the stares and whispers though, so they didn't really bother him.

The closer he got to the hall however, the more a bad feeling collected in his gut to the point where he was reconsidering lunch. Maybe he could just skip it and head to the library. He was reading up on defence, seeing as how he shared a dormitory with Riddle it might become a priority. Though, even after putting his followers in the hospital wing they had done nothing in retaliation, which Harry found odd. He had put up some flimsy wards around his bed that would alert him of anyone within a four foot radius.

He walked towards the Slytherin table and was about to sit down when Riddle's voice reached him from the end of the table where he sat with his minions. "Come and sit with us Evans."

The bastard didn't even have the decency to phrase it as a question, just a straight up command. If he refused, it would show everyone else in the house that he wasn't as submissive as he had led them to believe, though he could just imagine the power plays that would result from this.

He clearly had Riddle's attention, and they would all be trying to find out why and if it was anything they could cash in on. Even now he could see the discord running through them.

He slowly made his way over to where Riddle was sat with his so called friends and cautiously sat down in the place Riddle designated. He looked over at Abraxas Malfoy and Orion Black, who were both giving him calculating stares, still trying to figure him out obviously.

"Nobody has actually been introduced I believe. This is Abraxas Malfoy, Orion Black," Riddle introduced while pointing to the students on his left, "Nicolas Prince and Edward Lestrange." They were on his right. They all nodded to him as their names were said, apart from Lestrange, who just sneered at him in response.

"I never got a chance to meet you the other day, but everyone spoke highly of how you reacted in the hallway situation." Nicolas Prince said to open conversation with him.

"I just got lucky," Harry replied, trying to duck his head in embarrassment. He heard a snort of disbelief come from the boy on the end of the table.

Harry's head snapped up and he glared murderously at Riddle. People who had been watching them around the table stiffened as they wondered what kind of punishment Riddle would give out for the act of defiance.

Harry stiffened as he realised his glare would throw off his persona, though people assumed it was just fear of retribution. Scared of Riddle themselves, they reluctantly turned back to their food while watching from the corners of their eyes.

Harry was interrupted from glaring at Riddle who had a smirk on his face , when a sudden silence swept the room and he saw Riddle's smirk fall to be replaced with the coldest look he had seen on the boy to date.

He turned as a hand touched his shoulder, and he had told hold in the instinctive flinch which, unknown to him, had Riddle frowning in contemplation. "Hi," The face of the small first year Hufflepuff boy he had saved from Malfoy, Black and Lestrange looked back at him.

"Err, hi. Can I help you with something?" Harry didn't have a clue why the kid would come to see him now, especially after the way he had run away from him before. He must have been made of stronger stuff than he looked because he was avoiding Riddle's ice cold glare like a pro.

"I just wanted to say thank you for the other night...you know," he snuck a quick around up to see if anybody else was watching as he stumbled into his second point.

This kid was either blind and hadn't really seen who he was sitting with, or was stupid and didn't care. It wasn't as though they wouldn't get him next time when Harry wasn't around. Harry sighed deeply; you just can't help some people.

"Are the rumours true?" This question had the whole hall snapping to attention, including Riddle. Harry couldn't see him, but he felt his gaze burning into the back of his neck.

"What rumours would those be?" Harry asked, thankful that he might finally know what everyone was talking about, although that didn't stop the rising blush in his cheeks at being the focus of so many people.

"That you and Tom Riddle are together?" The boy asked after once again checking to make sure the other subject of his question wasn't around. He obviously hadn't noticed him sitting to the right of Prince further down the table. Well, at least he wasn't considered the dangerous one anymore, Harry thought wryly. Then the question sank in and his thoughts came to a halt.

"Wait, what? Me and Tom Riddle? Together as in, together together?" Harry blurted without actually thinking about what he was saying. It must have come from the girls that saw him and Riddle arguing the night before.

But he was so shocked he didn't know what to say, sometimes things just couldn't get any worse. He looked around to see if anyone else had heard the question only to see the whole student body and most of the professors listening in. He was wrong, _now_ it couldn't get any worse. Everyone was waiting for the answer that his mind was scrambling to come up with.

"Now darling, I know we said we were going to keep this quiet, but I really think you should let your friends know. After all, where would you be without them?"

Riddle.

Wow. Wrong again.

He went from gobsmacked to humiliated to outright furious in a matter of milliseconds. He turned to look at Riddle only to see cold glint in his eyes and another infuriating smirk on his lips. This was his punishment for rescuing the boy.

Now was not the time for him to drop his mask, but he really wanted to make Riddle as angry as he could, even if the guy was dangerous.

He took a deep breath before giving an uninterested, "Whatever," and walking away, leaving everyone to their food. He should have just gone with his first instincts and skipped lunch.

He didn't know who was more shocked at his action, the boy asking the questions now he was left alone with Riddle, or Riddle himself who had just been dismissed as unimportant.

Orion watched Evans walk off and then saw Tom throw a murderous look at Nicolas who had whistled lowly at Evans, before stalking off to think no doubt about how to best play the next game.

The boy had balls, he'd give him that, but it would only make things harder for him in the end. The harder you fight, the harder you fall. He remembered that clearly from when he had been Tom's latest interest back in their third year.

Nicolas came up to him after everyone in the hall had moved on to their next classes. He leaned against the walls of the stone corridor. "I haven't seen anyone stand up to Riddle like that in quite a while."

"I haven't either Nico, but I haven't seen him take an interest in anybody like he has in the Evans boy before. Usually he goes after them in his spare time when it suits him, but he's dropped everything for this one."

Nicolas sighed deeply. "We'll just have to see how it plays out."

"I guess so. Oh well, onwards and upwards I suppose."

He was there again, tied to a headstone.

The graveyard.

He could feel the blood running down his arm and the ropes digging into his skin as they held his body upright.

Pain.

His whole body shook as he was placed under the cruciatus curse again and again. He screamed and screamed but the pain never stopped. He struggled in the ropes but they wouldn't give, they just cut further into his wrists.

The pain stopped, but it was only replaced with a different kind of pain that started as a flash of green saw Cedric lying dead in the wet grass.

"Bow to me Harry," the Dark Lord said, "it's only manners."

"I'll die...before I ever...bow...to you...Voldemort!" Harry gurgled as he coughed up blood from his damaged lungs.

He saw him raise his wand and braced himself as best he could for the pain that was about to come.

The dormitory snapped awake as screams rang through the silence. Most woke with wands in their hands before looking around for danger. At no signs of immediate death, they all looked confused and even more so when they heard the screams were coming from the direction of Evans' bed.

Edward Lestrange muttered about raving lunatics screaming, but his attention was mainly focused on their leader as he approached the struggling boy. As he looked closer he noticed the boy's body shaking as if under the cruciatus curse.

All of the sudden he stopped shaking and started screaming that he would never bow to anyone, and then it happened. He said he would never bow to Voldemort. Only the five people in this room knew that was the name their lord had taken a liking to for his future plans.

Riddle had stopped for a moment as those words seemed to echo throughout the room, until Evans started screaming again. He waved his wand, creating a small rush of water that had the boy snapping awake and reaching for his wand automatically.

Harry awoke when he felt the water on his face and started to reach for his wand, only for his hands to be trapped in a vice like grip holding them against the bed.

"Calm down Evans." A cold voice reached his ears through the pounding in his head.

"Get off me," he replied still out of breath from his dream. Violet eyes above him were lit with curiosity and the grip tightened briefly before letting go completely.

He scrambled out of bed without looking at anybody else in the dormitory and made his way to the bathroom as fast as he could without running. He emptied his stomach several times before freshening up and stepping back out into the dormitory, feeling the snap of magic as his silencing charms came apart at the opening of the door.

It looked like everyone had gone back to sleep, but he could feel eyes following him from Riddle's bed. He didn't say anything though, so Harry just went to sleep, this time remembering to put up silencing charms around his curtains. He had fallen asleep reading and not put them up, which was why he had woken the dorm. He couldn't be so careless in future.

Evans knew him. Knew more about him than he did about Evans, and knowledge was power. This was a game that intrigued him like no other, and the boy was playing it with him. Full of masks and deceit apparently, but it was no matter. They were his speciality after all.

How did Evans know these things about him though? He was sure he had never met the other for he would have remembered. More than anything else, Evans knew the name of Lord Voldemort. He had only picked it two months ago, and even then only told his followers a week or two ago. It hadn't been spoken aloud and his followers had been subjected to secrecy charms.

He had seen the suspicion with which even Dumbledore looked upon the new boy and it spoke volumes, for Dumbledore was open to everyone apart from Tom himself. Also, it always took the boy a second longer than normal to respond when his name was called, which suggested he was unfamiliar with it. Harrison Evans wasn't his real name.

The reaction he had got from calling him darling had been delightful. He was determined to get the boy to drop the mask eventually, and then they would really be able to go head to head. The other didn't need to worry himself with what other people thought, he was Tom's now, even if he didn't know it yet.


End file.
